vocab Vocabulary/Taxonomy Name

The name of a controlled vocabulary (defined formally) or a generic vocabulary (subject area defined informally), taxonomy, ontology, database, term list, thesaurus, index, etc. that is the source of the term.

Usage/Remarks

There is no fixed list of term vocabularies and each standards organization may point to its chosen taxonomies, ontologies, keyword lists, etc. For keywords, named vocabularies include “inspec”, “structural engineering”, etc. For subjects, named vocabularies include “ipc”, “uns”, “unspsc”. etc. In cases where there is no named vocabulary, the @vocab attribute should be set to “uncontrolled”.
Vocabulary Attributes
Four attributes are used in this Tag Set to identify a term from a controlled or an uncontrolled vocabulary:
vocab
Name of the controlled or uncontrolled vocabulary, taxonomy, ontology, index, database, or similar that is the source of the term. For example, for a subject term, a value might be IPC Code (“ipc”) or UNS Code (“uns”). For an uncontrolled term. the value might be an area of study such as “structural engineering” or merely the word “uncontrolled”.
vocab-identifier
Unique identifier of the vocabulary, such as (but not limited to) a URI or DOI. For example, for Dublin Core (DCC), the identifier might be “http://dublincore.org/documents/2012/06/14/dces/”.
vocab-term
The content of the element is the free prose version of the vocabulary or taxonomic term. The @vocab-term attribute holds the canonical version of the same term, as it appears in the vocabulary. For example, if the attribute value was “digitized-vor”, the element might contain the display text “Digitized Version of Record”.
vocab-term-identifier
Unique identifier of the term within a specific vocabulary, such as (but not limited to) an item number, a URI, DOI, etc.
OPTIONAL on many elements; click for list and usage
Value Meaning
Text, numbers, or special characters The name of the vocabulary, taxonomy, ontology, database, term list, index, etc. that is the source of the term named in the element’s content.
Restriction This attribute may be specified if the element is used.
Tagged Sample

Inspec vocabulary (for keyword group)

...
<kwd-group id="KG1" originator="ASME" vocab="Inspec"
  vocab-identifier="http://www.theiet.org/resources/inspec/about/records/ithesaurus.cfm"
  xml:lang="en">
 <compound-kwd id="KG1.1">
  <compound-kwd-part content-type="code">A7865P</compound-kwd-part>
  <compound-kwd-part content-type="text">Optical properties of other 
   inorganic semiconductors and insulators (thin films/low dimensional 
   structures)</compound-kwd-part>
 </compound-kwd>

 <compound-kwd id="KG1.2">
  <compound-kwd-part content-type="code">A7865T</compound-kwd-part>
  <compound-kwd-part content-type="text">Optical properties of organic
   compounds and polymers (thin films/low dimensional structures)</compound-kwd-part>
 </compound-kwd>
</kwd-group>
...